Spanish II Preterite Notes

Spanish II Preterite Notes

What is the preterite?

• It is used to describe past and completed events in Spanish.
• It is used to describe what happened.

What are the "keys to the castle" to successfully use the preterite?

• First determine what kind of verb you are using. (Is it an -ar verb, an -er verb, or an -ir verb?)
• Is the verb regular or irregular in the preterite.
• Remember--- -ar verbs have no stem changes in the preterite.
• Common irregular verbs in the preterite are ir, hacer, dormir, ver, and dar.
• Memorization of the preterite verb endings below is vital.

-Preterite -ar endings Preterite -er, -ir endings

-AR VERBS: -é -aste -ó -amos -aron
-ER, -IR VERBS: -í -iste -ió -imos -ieron

-Remember that -AR verbs that end in -car (practicar), -gar (llegar), and -zar (lanzar) have a spelling change in the yo form along with the conjugation.
Examples:Yo practiqué. I practiced. A qu replaces the c in order to preserve the hard k sound.
Yo llegué a tiempo. I arrived on time. A u is added after the g to preserve the hard g sound.
Yo almorcé a la una. I ate lunch at 1:00. A c replaces the z. The purpose of this change is minimal----it basically helps keep the
s sound of the z by replacing the z with a c. Z is pronounced like an 's' in Spanish.

So there you go . . .these are the "llaves para el castillo" (keys to the castle) in using the basic preterite correctly.